CA - Lizette Cuesta, 19, beaten, fatally stabbed, Alameda Co., 12 Feb 2018 *Arrests*

Tracy Woman’s Dying Words Lead Deputies To Her Suspected Killers

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2018/02/12/womans-dying-words-point-to-killers/

Two people are behind bars after a Tracy woman was brutally beaten and stabbed in Alameda County, thanks to her deathbed confession.

A driver found the 19-year-old victim early this morning on Tesla Road near Livermore.

(snip)

“Initially they thought the woman may have had a severed arm,” Sgt. Kelly said. “That was ultimately not true. It appears she likely had her arm under her body as she was crawling.”

The victim had been stabbed several times and beaten, but she still managed to crawl 100 yards back to the road. She was airlifted to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where she died two hours later.

“We have a compelling dying declaration,” Sgt. Kelly said.
 
Unbelievably brutal. :(

Driver recalls finding stabbing victim along California road

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/cr...n-says-he-prayed-and-dying-woman-12610882.php


A driver who found a 19-year-old California stabbing victim soaked in blood and dragging herself along the side of a road said he and his friend gave her a blanket and prayed with her before help arrived.

The victim, Lizette Cuesta of Tracy, later identified the suspects before she died at a hospital.

Richard Loadholt said Cuesta had so much blood in her hair when they found her that he could not tell what color it was.

(snip)

Alameda County sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said Tuesday that two people arrested in the stabbing were friends of the victim.
 
Local msm source names the suspects.

Victim, suspects identified in fatal stabbing outside Livermore

https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/ne...dentified-in-fatal-stabbing-outside-livermore

Kelly has identified murder suspects as a Modesto couple -- 19-year-old Daniel Gross and 25-year-old Melissa Leonardo, who are both in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on no-bail status. Authorities previously reported the two arrested suspects both 19 years old.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, Kelly said.
 
Update: Race to murder suspects' Modesto home was critical in preserving evidence

http://www.modbee.com/news/local/crime/article199912364.html

A "tremendous" amount of evidence was found at the south Modesto home shared by 19-year-old Daniel Gross and 25-year-old Melissa Leonardo, the suspects in the murder of a Tracy teenager early Monday, an Alameda County Sheriff's Office spokesman said.

(snip)

Gross and Leonardo are engaged, according to their Facebook profiles, and the Sheriff's Office has described Cuesta as a friend of both.

(snip)

Asked where the stabbing of the victim is believed to have occurred, Kelly told The Bee, "We have a very dynamic crime scene on Tesla Road ... I'm going to leave it at that."
 
Modesto neighbors describe tense moments as Livermore murder suspects arrested

http://abc7news.com/neighbors-describe-moments-as-livermore-murder-suspects-arrested/3079480/

Nine-year-old Jaden Silva says a SWAT team used his treehouse as a viewing platform to peer into the backyard next-door on Monday afternoon. Holed up in the green and purple structure were the two suspects.

(snip)

... they arrested a woman who she thought was pregnant. That was 25-year-old Melissa Leonardo. According to her Facebook page she is from Los Gatos and went to high school in Tracy and last summer got engaged to Daniel Gross. Gross is just 19 years old.
 
http://fox40.com/2018/02/13/suspects-victim-in-brutal-livermore-killing-identified/
Tales of jealousy and anger

According to Gross and Leonardo's social media accounts, they are engaged.

FOX40 spoke with Montana Howland, who considers Leonardo his sister, and Misty Dawn Grasty, who grew up with Gross and used to live with him as a child when their families were both in the same sober living house.

"He was an angry person but I don't think he would take it out on other people," Grasty said.

"She has emotional issues but she would not physically hurt someone else," Howland said.

They were trying to understand how the couple could have left Cuesta for dead.

Grasty said Gross had a rough childhood but internalized his emotions.

"Like he would cut himself," she said.

She said Gross was always the odd one out, but that his fiancee was extremely jealous.

"She actually got physical with him inside of a store for looking at another female," Grasty said.

Grasty told FOX40 people who know the couple think that jealousy could have been directed at Cuesta. But Howland said he video chatted with her from Kansas just days ago. He said she mentioned Gross talking to another girl, but it was a joke.

Howland believed Gross to be the only one capable of such violence.

"Daniel has always talked about if someone pisses him off bad enough he will kill them," Howland said. "But Melissa is the only one with a car and she goes everywhere Daniel goes, so that's probably the reason she got (dragged) into it."

Howland told FOX40 he knew Leonardo owned a lot of knives, but only as collector's items. He didn't think she would ever use them to stab someone.

"I just know my sister willingly would not kill someone without someone mentally controlling her mind," Howland said.
 
This sounds eerily like the Adrianne Jones murder. Two brutal sociopaths proving their 'undying' love to one another.
My heart, and prayers go out to Lizette's family, and loved ones.
 
Outbursts from family mark court appearance of Livermore stabbing suspects
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/02/14/stabbing-suspects-in-tracy-womans-death-to-appear-in-court/
Outbursts from grief-stricken family members marked the court appearance of one suspect in the fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old Tracy woman on Wednesday.
Melissa Jill Leonardo, 25, was arraigned on murder charges with special allegations for the use of a knife in the murder of Lizette Ignacio Cuesta, 19, of Tracy. Leonardo did not enter a plea on Wednesday.
Daniel Leebenjamin Gross, 19, who was also arrested on suspicion of murdering Cuesta, was scheduled for an arraignment before the court on Thursday.
While Leonardo was arraigned on murder charges first, the Alameda District Attorney’s office specifically alleged that Gross was the main actor in Cuesta’s murder, not an accomplice, and added a great bodily injury enhancement to his charges.
 
Rest easy, Lizette [emoji173]

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Tapatalk
 
WHY?

What is wrong with people? I don't get it. They killed a beautiful young woman. They need to go.

They can figure it out as they think about it for the rest of their lives, or not. But, they have to do it in a cage.
 
EXCLUSIVE: Suspect accused of stabbing 19-year-old to death near Livermore says he 'snapped'
http://www.ktvu.com/news/exclusive-...r-old-to-death-near-livermore-says-he-snapped
Summary of jailhouse interview:
- Gross acted in self-defense after Cuesta elbowed him in the ribs. Cuesta was armed with a knife he had given her for self-defense because she didn‘t feel safe skating in Tracy. She didn't come at him with the weapon, only her elbows.
- Confrontation happened after he and Cuesta had had sex in the back of Leonardo's car as Leonardo drove. All three had smoked marijuana that night.
- During the encounter, he said he had tied her up with a yellow rope, with Cuesta's consent.
- Cuesta began working at Carl's Jr. restaurant in Tracy about 5 months ago. He and Leonardo were shift leaders, Cuesta took orders.
- His working relationship with Cuesta turned sexual. Both women were aware of each other and did not object.
- Leonardo had nothing to do with what happened early Monday other than driving to and from Livermore.

"I'm not mad at her," he said.
He questioned whether any apology would be adequate? WTF?!
 
I believe he raped this beautiful girl in the back seat,I don't believe this was consent,why he tied her.Engaged to the other suspect,I bet she was enraged with jealousy.He is a !
 
I believe he raped this beautiful girl in the back seat,I don't believe this was consent,why he tied her.Engaged to the other suspect,I bet she was enraged with jealousy.He is a !

I so totally agree. Word by word.
 

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